Prime Minister François Fillon said Tuesday that his government
planned to lay the foundations for a modern France with a new approach
to democracy and new policies in all areas of national life to make the
country competitive.

"We must rewrite our political, social and cultural contract,"
Fillon told lawmakers, outlining his government's general policies -
marked by vast ambitions in the economic realm, including lowering
unemployment from 8.1 percent now to 5 percent - for the next five
years.

"There is a cancer at the heart of the national crisis: mass
unemployment," Fillon said, adding that it not only cut production and
broke the national morale but also blocked integration and fed
extremism.

Fillon, chosen after President Nicolas Sarkozy was elected in May to
succeed Jacques Chirac, said no government had managed to stop what he
called "the slow spiral downward" that has left France 16th on a list
of riches per inhabitant compiled by the Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development.

Past governments have failed to reverse the trend because they did
not dare "to break this vicious circle of working less and less and
becoming more and more indebted," Fillon said.

He announced plans for major changes in the social sector.

A vote of confidence was to be held later Tuesday, a traditional
formality with no risk that Fillon's conservative majority would lose.

Sector by sector, Fillon spelled out his government's goals, an
exercise of all new prime ministers. With the proposed changes, he made
clear there would be a break with the past to allow a more modern
France to emerge.

"With Nicolas Sarkozy, the French took their destiny in their
hands," Fillon said, adding, "They laid the foundations for a new
France."

Fillon said he envisaged a constitutional revision to make way for
institutional changes, including a revamping of the voting law,
apparently with some proportional representation, that would allow
smaller parties to be represented in Parliament.

He extended his hand to minorities in France, mostly Muslim and
African citizens and immigrants, announcing a plan to attack the
deficit in education with smaller school classes in tough neighborhoods
and more tutors, training and job search help.

Fillon also reiterated the new policy set out by Sarkozy on
immigration, saying authorities would be selective about who came to
France, and would fight illegal immigration networks and work by
illegal immigrants "because I see there a modern form of trafficking in
humans."

He promised to increase growth a notch, apparently aiming to raise it from 2 percent to 3 percent a year.

Universities will be given more autonomy, he said, touching on one of the more sensitive changes planned.

Following the failed weekend terror attacks in London and Glasgow,
Scotland, Fillon said that nothing would be neglected in security
matters in France. He said France might consider the use of widespread
surveillance cameras, as is done in Britain. "We will evaluate the
benefits," he said.